Counting the Minutes
by PikaSass
Summary: Misty's becoming an established journalist, and in order to up her career, she's sent to war-stricken Johto to cover the stories there. But Ash is having serious doubts about her trip...


DISCLAIMER: I don't own Pokémon.

A/N: I dedicate this fic to the seven journalists who have lost their lives in Afghanistan over the last couple of weeks. It's heart wrenching to know that they were only doing their job and died because of something they couldn't prevent. So Godspeed to them, because I one day hope to become a journalist too, and they were innocents who shouldn't have died. 

"Misty, I really don't think you should go to Johto" Ash Ketchum said worriedly, watching his girlfriend of four years pack a suitcase.

Misty Waterflower stopped in mid-fold of a t-shirt and eyed him seriously. "I've told you this a million times before, Ash. I'll be safe. I've got the word of the government that I'll be safe, okay?"

Ash sighed. "But you never know..."

"Ash, this is my big break. I didn't go to University for four years just to turn down an oppurtunity like this. This will make me the famous journalist I've always dreamed of becoming" Misty said wistfully.

"Yeah, if you live through it" Ash mumbled.

"Look, I know there's a war over there and I know how dangerous it is. But Rick wouldn't send me there if he thought it wasn't safe" Misty pointed out, referring to her boss at the magazine she worked for.

Ash gave her no response and she resumed her packing. "Almost done!" she said, beaming a smile in Ash's direction. Although they had been going out seriously for four years, the 23-year olds had known each other for thirteen years. Their secret romantic feelings towards each other had only been confessed at the prospect of being seperated, due to Misty's writing ambitions at University.

"When do you leave?" Ash asked quietly.

Misty checked her watch. "Three hours and 24 minutes, if you must know." She rolled her eyes and zipped up the suitcase. "There. Don't look so glum" she said, slowly approaching him. "I'll only be gone a week."

"But Mist..." Ash met his tear-filled eyes with her wide, excited ones. "You might be gone forever."

"Oh Ash" Misty sighed, wrapping her arms around the back of his neck. "Don't worry, okay? You'll just get yourself in a state. Can't you be just a tad happy for me?" she asked hopefully.

"Of course I'm happy for you" Ash replied. "I'm just gonna miss you so much."

Misty smiled and brought him in for a soft kiss. "I'm gonna miss you more. You don't have to worry about that."

"I'll count every minute you're away" Ash said, to which Misty raised an eyebrow and supressed her giggles.

"Are you serious?" she asked sceptically.

Ash nodded. "Every minute, Mist" he vowed. Misty was touched by the promise, but she knew she couldn't really take it seriously. It was an almost impossible task, and she knew he'd have other things to do.

"Ash, it'll be alright. Trust me. I _know_ it'll be alright" Misty said with extra emphasis. Ash tried to give her a cheery smile but she saw right through it. She could see the pain and torture he was unneccesarily putting himself through.

The next three hours were no better for Ash. Misty had mostly been tying up loose ends with her boss on the phone and had almost made Ash go and watch the prelims for the Indigo League, which he was taking a break from this year. At one point he almost wanted her to leave, figuring that the sooner she left, the sooner she would come back.

But when he finally found himself driving her to the airport, a panicky rhythm stole his heartbeat and made him wish he had spent more time with her in what he was thinking would be their final moments.

And now here they were. Misty's luggage all checked in, her boarding pass firmly in her hand, and her flight being called for departure.

"Well" Misty breathed excitedly. "Next time you see me I'll be a promoted, famous and nearly affluent journalist!" she exclaimed.

Ash couldn't reply. His thoughts were too dark to be spoken aloud. Promoted to heaven? Famous for her brutal and early death?

In an emotion that mingled anticipation and reluctance, Misty tightly hugged Ash, almost absorbing the anixiousness he was feeling.

"Ash, promise me you won't worry" she said firmly. "Because in a week you'll look back on this and laugh."

"Or cry" Ash muttered. Misty pulled away and looked deep into his eyes, reading silent messages of concern.

"There'll be no tears" she said soothingly as she tenderly stroked his cheek, almost like she was wiping away silent tears she didn't want to see. "No tears." Ash, still being undecided on this matter, responded through the deep kiss he bestowed upon her.

"I love you" he murmered as they finally broke it off. "I love you so goddamn much. You see to it that you get home in one piece, okay?"

"It's already been seen to" Misty said softly. With that they shared another kiss before Misty admitted she really had to go. With a heavy sigh, Ash watched her walk into the adjoining tunnel, witnessed her turn around with a wide smile adorning her face, mouthing "I love you" before she finally stepped on the plane.

And, as he watched the plane take off in the direction of no man's land, he checked his watch and commenced counting. It was 4:43pm.

*******

Six days Ash had now waited. Six days of unanswerable questions dangling precariously in his mind. And no matter what he did to distract himself, his mind always feasted on Misty's safety. 

True to his word, he had been counting every minute they were seperated. He found it easy after he figured out there were 1440 minutes in a 24 hour day. Still, every minute struggled to complete itself in Ash's state of mind.

Sitting on the couch in the flat he shared with Misty, he turned to his best friend of 13 years, the little yellow fuzz of electricity known as Pikachu, and spoke with heavy intonations.

"You miss her too, don't you buddy?" he asked rhetorically, noticing that all enthusiasm was now void of the little mouse's limp figure.

"Pika Pika" Pikachu confirmed with a slight nod of its head. Ash sighed and flicked on the TV as a last resort for distraction, and immediatly wished he hadn't. For he instantly found himself drowning in regrets he knew he'd be facing if he let her go. 

Propping his elbows up on his knees, he held his paling face in his hands and muttered to himself in a shock he thought he should've been prepared for.

"God, no...please no" he whispered, wide eyes fixed to the TV set. At the sound of its master's mutterings, Pikachu's ears pricked up and it slowly turned to face Ash. The little pokémon became confused at his shocked face and turned to the TV to try and comprehend the images and sounds on the box. 

"We're broadcasting live from war stricken Johto, where news has just leaked out of the brutal murders of four foreign journalists. The horrific murders took place yesterday on the road linking Violet City and Azalea Town where the journalists were ordered out of their van and told to surrender their money and possesions. Witnesses say that gunfire was heard briefly before the van again drove off."

"Come on you bastards!" Ash yelled at the box. "What were the journalists names?!"

"The four bodies were found dumped in bushes by the road and post-mortems are being carried out to identify the journalists, three female and one male. Other media personnel in the van are being questioned and say that all four journalists were from Kanto, east of Johto. The identities of the dead are to remain disclosed until all next of kin have been notified" the report continued.

Ash fell back in his chair and had the urge to physically slap himself for letting Misty go so easily. He could've stopped her. He knew how dangerous Johto was right now, in the middle of a very violent civil war that had been raging for the past eighteen months. And he had been crazy enough to let her venture into the heart of it! 

He didn't blame her boss. He didn't blame her. He could only blame himself. He might as well have been one of the murderers on that road. 

A thought entered his head that made him suddenly sit up straight. The next of kin were being notified. Misty only had one group of next of kin, and those were her sisters. Ditzy as they were, they would no doubt be some kind of help to Ash. They would be on the phone right now if these authorities were notifying them of Misty's death. 

He immediatly reached for the phone, praying that it wasn't engaged, or that if one of them did answer they would only be confused at the questions Ash would ask. Maybe there had been no phonecall, no devestating news. 

"Pika?" Pikachu inquired, still not making sense of the situation.

"It's Misty" Ash said distractidly, dialing out the phone number to the Cerulean Gym in a panic. Pikachu became almost as worried as its trainer and watched as Ash heavily put the phone down.

"It's engaged" he whispered. He hung his head in what some would call shame, but the truth was, he was hiding his tears. Next thing he knew he'd be receiving a phonecall he wouldn't want to receive, and making funeral arrangements, and calling all their closest friends to break the news before the media could get their hands on it.

Absent mindedly, he checked his watch, noting that it was 6.07pm. She had been gone from his side for 8724 minutes, but god only knew how long she had been gone from the world for. 

"I...I need to take a walk" Ash announced quietly, furiously wiping the tears that were imprinting his cheeks with pain and regrets he knew would never subside. He shot up out of his chair and made for the door. Every step he took planted his anger and grief into the ground, but hardly dissolved it from his ravaged system. He could've killed himself for what he'd done, given himself his own death penalty for Misty's murder.

With not half a positive emotion or thought circulating his body, he flung open the front door, expecting to meet streets and skies that were clouding over in darkness, much like his mind. 

He saw the anticipated scene for about two split seconds before his vision was totally obscured. It didn't take him long to realise what had temporarily stolen his eyesight - someone was hugging him, his face buried in their shoulder. And with shock and relief now flooding him, Ash hugged a now sobbing Misty tighter than he had previously thought possible.

"A-Ash, they...killed, I...w-w-why did...I..." Misty couldn't make a coherant sentance through her sobbing and this only made Ash cling to her heaving body even firmer.

"Shhh, Misty, shush" he hushed her quietly, stroking her hair and letting his own tears fall as it suddenly hit him. She was alive. She had obviously escaped very narrowly with her life but had watched her colleagues fall before her - a scene that would be etched on her brain for the rest of her life.

"I couldn't save them" Misty wailed into his shoulder. "Those men...they were too strong, I couldn't f-f-fight them off. They got Rick..." She cried harder at the thought of losing her boss, the man who had propelled her to such heights in her developing career. 

"So how did you escape?" Ash asked gently, leading her into the living room. 

"I don't know" Misty replied vaguely, slowly sitting down on a couch and rubbing her red-rimmed eyes. "I-I just remember running...I think I got conked out, I remember waking up in a shelter and being told that I was going home in an hour." She smiled slowly before she continued. "That was the best news I'd heard in my whole life."

Ash reflected her wan but nonetheless present smile and kissed her tenderly. "God Mist, I turned on the news and I heard about it. I thought I'd lost you."

"I should've listened to you, Ash" Misty said with a trembling voice. "I should've told everyone not to go, to stay here with their families. And now Rick's wife...oh my god, she's not gonna..." She broke down again and clung tightly to Ash, who had suddenly widened his eyes.

"Misty, stay here a sec, I've got something for you" he said, gently prying himself free of her grasp and standing up.

"What?" Misty asked through a sniffle.

"I'll be back in a minute" Ash promised and ran off to the direction of their bedroom. It took him all of twenty seconds to find the item he had hidden away two months ago, when nerves had gotten the better of him when it came to actually giving it to her. 

But after this last week, this last day even, knowing how close he had come to losing her, he couldn't put it off any longer. Life was a gift Ash had been wasting more than he cared to realise, and in one swift moment he had vowed not to waste it any furthur. His approach from now on would be now or never, live for the moment, seize the day.

He strode back out to the living room again, finding Misty curled up on the couch, staring into nothingness as her mind became jumbled with visions and thoughts she never wanted to think of again.

Ash sat beside her and gently held her hand. "Misty, don't ever say you regret going to Johto ever again" he started.

"What?!" Misty exclaimed. "Do you think it was fun for me to witness innocent people get gunned down? Sure Ash, I'd say it was swell, loved every minute of it" she said bitterly.

"I know that what happened there will affect you for the rest of your life. It'll do the same for me. Because you going to Johto was the catalyst for what I'm about to do now" Ash explained.

"Catalyst?" Misty repeated. "Ash, what are you talking about?"

No more words were spoken as Ash slowly opened the small box in his hand to reveal a sapphiere and diamond ring that almost perfectly matched the shades in Misty's eyes. The very same eyes that were now growing wide with surprise and shock.

"This is hardly traditional, I'm not down on one knee and there's no roses or anything, but all you need to know is that I am so in love with you I can't even describe it. Before you left I was too scared to do this, I should've done it before you left. Well, anyway, I'm doing it now, which is better then never" Ash grinned. "So, Misty, my love, my life, my all, we've been seperated..." He paused and checked his watch. It was 6.13. "8301 minutes" he announced, to which Misty let out a small giggle. "And it was far too long. Misty, will you marry me and promise never to leave me for that long ever again?"

"You really did keep count then?" Misty asked with a raised eyebrow. Ash nodded seriously. "Wow" she breathed, once again fixing her gaze on the ring. "I dunno how long we'll ever be seperated for again, but even if we are...it'll be different."

"No it won't" Ash shook his head. "I'll still miss you as much."

"Maybe" Misty grinned. "But I'll be investigating, researching, working and living as Misty Ketchum."

In one sentance, Misty had turned on a power switch controlled for Ash's face, as it lit up in delight and, quite possibly, amazement. He wasn't sure if he was expecting an answer so confirming so quick. Maybe a "I'll sleep on it" or "I'll think about it." Not something so definite already.

"You will?" Ash asked through the beam occupying his face. Misty nodded and planted a kiss on his lips, to which he immediatly responded and, while his fianceé was wrapping herself in his warmth, he discreetly slipped the breathtaking ring on her finger.

They pulled apart and Misty slowly brought her hand up to eye level to admire the symbol of their now infinite love. As she did this, Ash wrapped his arms round her waist and held her close, nuzzling her neck as he spoke.

"If you wear that every time we're apart, I'll count every minute we're away from each other" he said softly.

"Every time we're apart?" Misty asked in horror, turning to face him. "I'll wear it every day! That's the point of an engagement ring, you know" she pointed out.

Ash laughed shortly. "I know, I know." He didn't speak any more words as he instead found himself lost in her eyes. She couldn't complain though - she was in the same situation on her side.

"I wasn't exactly counting minutes, Ash" Misty said, tenderly stroking his cheek. "But you never left my thoughts, my mind, my heart...and I can assure you now that you never will."

At this statement, Ash smiled and bestowed another soft kiss on his fiancé's lips. And now they both knew that through the horror of her trip, at least one thing had come out for the better. A love that would never be emotionally separated. 

A/N: Um, dunno what to say here! Just please review and tell me, in all honesty, what you think. You know what they say, honesty is the best policy! Thanks a ton guys! **PikaSass** (o^_^o)


End file.
